The Washington Posts reports on a Congressional hearing checking into customer sService at SSA. It describes a visit to a Social Security offices as “the most inportant encounter most Americans will have with the government.”
The Social Security Administration set a record with more than 45 million people visiting its 1,300 field offices last year. Since January 2009, Field office staff has increased only slightly.
Barbara D. Bovbjerg, managing director of education, workforce and income security issues for the Government Accountability Office, set the stage with her testimony, saying too much work for too few employees results in poor performance.
“With the recent economic downturn, field offices are facing more pressure than ever to meet service delivery needs, and soon baby boomer retirements will stretch SSA field office staff even further,” she said.
The record number of visitors to Social Security offices brought a record amount of work. The number of SSA “claim receipts” rose from about 9 million to about 11 million from 2005 through 2009, according to a GAO analysis. Full article here: